wb08nadal_schuettler

Points won by each set: [ 26-9, 40-36, 30-23 ]
Points won directly behind the serve:
34 % Nadal – 26 of 75
17 % Schuettler – 16 of 89

Quite untypical Nadal’s match I would say. He [2] was exceptionally aggressive throughout (big serves & forehands) against ten years older Schuettler [94], for whom already 4th round at Wimbledon ’08 was a big result, because he’d been losing matches more often than winning them at the time. Nadal displayed powerful, firm tennis, like he didn’t want to lose any time before third consecutive Wimbledon final against Federer. That Spanish-German semifinal looked like a humiliation of the 32-year-old Schuettler in the first 30 minutes, but as he saved a break point at 0:1 in the 2nd set with a service winner, he shouted at himslef a few times, improved his game, broke Nadal’s serve at 1-all, and even led 5:3 – since that moment to the end, Nadal’s advantage was unquestionable again: Schuettler lost his serve at 1-all in the 3rd set and fought off break points in his last two service games, including a triple match point (Nadal should have converted the first two of them).

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